With Stevie Rey Von added to their arsenal, Fults Ranch Ltd. is proving it won’t fade quietly into the background after the sale of Metallic Cat. Their new 6-year-old stallion and a 6-year-old mare they bred – both by “Denver” – clinched the top placings in the Lucas Oil National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) Super Stakes Classic Open finals, held Easter Sunday in Fort Worth, Texas.

Alvin and Becky Fults have long admitted Equi-Stat Elite $18 Million Sire Metallic Cat was an incredible find all those years ago, but it seems Stevie Rey Von may be their second golden Easter egg. In less than two months, the stallion (out of Miss Ella Rey x Dual Rey) and his new trainer, Equi-Stat Elite $3 Million Rider Beau Galyean, went from placing fifth in the Classic/Challenge Open at the Arbuckle Mountain Futurity to marking a winning 228 at The Cattlemen’s, followed by a Super Stakes record-setting 231 – reportedly the highest score ever marked in the Classic at the event.

“When we bought ‘Stevie,’ we thought Beau would take him to a couple of the smaller aged events to get with him before the Super Stakes,” Alvin said of the Brandon Dufurrena-bred stallion. “All of a sudden, the expectations got way up there, but tonight he exceeded our expectations. Wow! It’s a dream come true for us.”

The performance was truly something to behold. Stevie stayed nose-to-nose with the cow and delivered every time Galyean called on him, demonstrating his athleticism and cow smarts for all to see. The spectators rewarded the run with an applause one could compare to the roar of an NCHA Futurity finals crowd.

“He gets tough when a cow really gets to eatin’ on him,” Galyean said after his win. “I thought, we’re going to cut him a lot of beef tonight and see if he can handle it, especially when Adan [Banuelos] put the [2]26 up. That opened the door for me to for sure try to bring everything I had and see if the horse could respond.”

Stevie, who won the 2015 NCHA Futurity Open with Ed Dufurrena and Limited Non-Pro with Rieta Dufurrena, showed up in Fort Worth with more than $370,000 to his credit. He unofficially added $26,216 to that total with his latest title, making him the No. 1 performer out of Miss Ella Rey, an earner of $372,554 and producer of nearly $880,000.

“We’re so blessed and beyond excited,” Becky said. “He’s so physical, smart and fast-footed; he’s the whole package. The more the crowd got into it, the more he rose to the occasion.”

Though Stevie’s achievement was plenty of reason to celebrate, the Fultses felt honored to watch Banuelos pilot Kattalyst, whom they bred in 2011, mark a 226 for the Classic Open Reserve title. The mare (out of Hottness x Spots Hot), who is owned by Todd and Elizabeth Quirk’s Ten/27 Ranch, of Denham Springs, Louisiana, unofficially took home $23,576 for her title and pushed her Equi-Stat record past the $100,000 mark by more than $17,000.